Google to launch Pixel range of smartphones in India, unfazed by slump outlook

“The reality is, in every market you have a curve of users who can afford products and services, and in India that curve drops out pretty fast and then becomes a long tail.”Gulveen Aulakh | ET Bureau | October 03, 2016, 08:56 IST

Sengupta said smartphone coverage will continue to expand —from 300 million users in 2016 to 500 million users by 2020 — as people realise the importance of Internet.NEW DELHI: Google, which is set to launch the Pixel range of smartphones on Tuesday, isn't surprised by or worried about analysts slashing forecast on smartphone sales growth in India, a top executive said. Pace of expansion, he said, was bound to slow down as the phase of fast, urban adoption was over.

The challenge now is to get on board the cost-constrained, less-aware users, who will have to be addressed by quality devices at low cost, said Caesar Sengupta, Google's vice president responsible to take its services to the next billion people.

“I don’t know why people are surprised by it,” Sengupta told ET on the sales forecast. “The reality is, in every market you have a curve of users who can afford products and services, and in India that curve drops out pretty fast and then becomes a long tail.”

Smartphone growth will happen, he said, adding: “But the rate at which it will happen will slow down because we’re done with the easy users now.” Last month, three research houses — International Data Corporation, CyberMedia Research and Counterpoint Technology Market Research — lowered their smartphone sale assessments for this year, by up to 17%, bringing the challenges around selling smartphones in India in stark light.

In what was an another surprise for the industry, IDC and CyberMedia raised sales estimates on feature phones, as fewer people are expected to upgrade to smartphones because of concerns over price as well as lack of need and ability to use them. All these have happened within the same year of the country becoming the second largest smartphone market after China by user base, surpassing the US.

“We’re not particularly worried by the rate, we’ve always seen something like this happening,” Sengupta said.

Knowledge of the possible trend was partly the reason behind Google’s projects such as Internet Saathi, the Internet literacy drive targeting the masses launched last year with Tata Trusts, and products that work on low-end phones and low-latency networks, such as YouTube Go launched last week.

The company has introduced offline solutions for most of its products such as Maps, Google Play and Google Search in order to expand Internet and, in turn, smartphone coverage into Indian hinterlands.

Sengupta said smartphone coverage will continue to expand —from 300 million users in 2016 to 500 million users by 2020 — as people realise the importance of Internet.

He cited the challenge of having high quality devices at low prices, but said rapid technology innovation may help solve this problem.